A Blog Around The Clock

Alan Kellogg has a cool contest for you:

Bora still has some 55 days to go before the conference, and still he posts about the folks coming. Will he have groups and/or individuals to write about by the time the conference gets here? Not to worry, Bora will find conference goers to write about, the question is who?
That is for us to make wild, inaccurate guesses about. In this contest,Twitting Bora, it is your goal to come up with the wildest, most outrageous, least likely participants at the Science Blogging Conference. Who (or what) will Bora announce as being at the conference this year the day before the conference starts?
Post your badly ill informed ideas here or in your blog (with a link here to it) The one that gets the most (and the most inventive) ballot box stuffing gets something. I have no idea what, all I can afford is a post pointing to your idea, and warning people about the other disgusting habits you have.
This comment brought to you by, Daffy Duck; who once said something a lot like, “How enthusiastic can you get?”

OK, the prize for the author of the most outrageous group of people and the collective title for them is an item of your choice from my CafePress store. Make sure you do not include people who have registered for real. Shoot!

There are 55 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 144 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we’ll cap at about 200). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time.
Alexander Scholz is the IT master and blogger for the The Pimm Group in the Nicholas School for Environment at Duke University.
Matthew Faerber is the Environmental Senior Technician – Classifications Assistance & Mapping at the NC Department of Environmental & Natural Resources, Division of Water Quality and a web designer.
Kirsten Zillman is an Environmental Consultant, formerly of the OGI School of Science and Engineering at OHSU and a coauthor of The Forest Portal
In order to meet them, you know what you have to do: register! Registration is free. Check the map for nearby hotels. And sign up for the Friday dinner.
If you are coming, find hotel information, exchange information about where you are staying, if you are offering a ride, need a ride, or want to carpool on the Ride Board – just edit the wiki page and add the query or information.
Our Friday lab tours are now in place, so you can start signing up to join one of them.
Get updates and get in touch with other participants via our Facebook Event group (I see that some who originally responded “Maybe attending” are now registered).
Please use ‘scienceblogging.com’ as your tag when writing blog posts about it or uploading pictures. You can also download and print out the flyers (PDF1 and PDF2) and post them on bulletin boards at your office, lab or school.

There are 56 days until the Science Blogging Conference.
Before I return to highlighting some of the people who will be there, let me finish with this Thanksgiving series of posts about the Friday pre-conference events – leaving the best for last, perhaps. If you look at the Program, you will see that Friday afternoon (after the Blogging101 session and before the Friday dinner) is reserved for Lab Tours.
As all the Lab Tours are occurring simultaneously, you have to choose only one – and what choices!
Duke Immersive Virtual Environment is a totally cool thing – you walk inside a big cube and see stuff in 3D. You can bring in your own files to see them in 3D if you want (let us know in advance). You can look at the brain and turn it around to see it from whichever angle you want, or do the same with a geological formation, you can explore how environment affects your own behavior, or play a game in virtual reality. Anton went there and wrote about his experience.
If you choose to visit The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences, you will learn about their Functional Genomics Research Program and see how they do what they do to understand complex molecular networks inside our cells.
At the EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory, they “conducts research and development that leads to improved methods, measurements and models to assess and predict exposures of humans and ecosystems to harmful pollutants and other conditions in air, water, soil, and food.” Go and see how they do it!
It is not easy getting access to the Duke Lemur Center (formerly Duke Primate Center, but why taunt PETA/ALF if there are no chimps there), where they work on preservation of a number of endangered primate species and do research on their nutrition and behavior, among else, trying to learn as much as they can about them in order to be able to successfully re-introduce them back into the wild.
If you choose to visit the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, you will see what kind of research they do behind the scenes, including the cleaning, preservation, analysis and mounting of fossils – from dinosaurs to giant sloths.
I always wanted a smart, energy-efficient, environmentally friendly house for myself and my family. You can see and experience one if you visit the Duke University Smart Home, a student dormitory which is all of the above.
So, if you will already be in town on Friday and want to join one of the tours, go to the Lab Tours page now and sign up by editing that wiki page. Hurry up, as some of the tours allow only 5 people!
If everything gets filled and there is more demand, we can easily add a couple of other cool local labs and institutions to add to the Lab Tour list. But first, you have to register!

There are 57 days until the Science Blogging Conference. Continuing with the Thanksgiving break in highlighting some of the people who will be at the Conference in January (and the list is growing – already at 144 registered participants), here is some more about what will be happening on the Friday pre-conference day.
But first, I have to say Happy Seventh Blogiversary to my friend Anton. Yes, you read it right: SEVENTH! Holy cow! He is, like, in bloggy years, a Methuselah with a long white beard! And he and Erin had to make some tough decisions recently – to stay or to move to Cleveland? I tried to stay out of that, as I am far too biased wanting them to remain in the area. So, I am thrilled to learn that this is what they decided in the end. Congratulations Erin! And have a grand time in Zanzibar!
Something that Anton has been doing for years now (and he is very good at it – I watched him in action a couple of times!) is organize small-group Blogging101 sessions and help people start their own blogs. His post An Introduction to Reading and Writing a Weblog is one of the Top 40 blog posts that a new blogger should read, according to the ‘Internet Hunger’ blog.
We did a Blogging101 session last year, on the pre-conference day, but this time around Anton is even more ambitious and has organized an entire 9am – noon session “Build your blogging skills”. He’ll start with an introduction to the world of blogs (and science blogs in particular) from 9am to 10am.
Then, each participant needs to choose one of the two sessions running from 10am till noon. One is for beginners who want to start a blog for the first time (using WordPress.com). This will be a hands-on session in a computer lab, slowly taking people through the simple steps to starting their own blogs.
The other is called “Take your blog to the next level: Have a pro help you improve your blog. Limited one-on-one tutoring.” where Anton and several local blogging masters will help bloggers make improvements in their blogging, from the way their blogs look, through adding and using new functionalities and gizmos, to tips for success.
So, if you are interested in participating in this session and can make it to the area on Friday morning, please sign up for it during the registration process or, if you are already registered, send Anton or me an e-mail asking to be added to the list of participants (it is limited by the number of machines in the computer lab, so don’t leave this decision for the last moment).

There are 58 days until the Science Blogging Conference. Since it is a holiday, I decided to take a little break in introducing people who have registered so far and instead showcase some parts of the program – especially stuff that is happening on Friday, January 18th (as everyone’s focus is on the Big Saturday event).
If you look at the Program page, you will see that we have lots of cool stuff organized for Friday – Blogging 101 (and 102) sessions and lab tours (more about those tomorrow).
But, if you manage to come to town by about 7pm on Friday, please join us for the Friday dinner. Last year, it was a real blast!
Just like last year, the Friday dinner will be at Town Hall Grill (map). I just heard that they discontinued the karaoke at 10pm on Fridays, but for us, they can do it again just that one night so let me know if you insist on singing!
Sign up for the Friday dinner by adding your name to the list (by editing the wiki page). I have reserved the place for 30 people, but they are quite happy to accommodate us if our numbers go over 40 or 50 or ….

There are 59 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 140 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we’ll cap at about 200). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time.
KT Vaughan is the Pharmacy Librarian and Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Pharmacy at UNC.
Thomas Linden is a Professor of Medical Journalism in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Both were participants at the last year’s conference.
In order to meet them, you know what you have to do: register! Registration is free. Check the map for nearby hotels. And sign up for the Friday dinner.
If you are coming, find hotel information, exchange information about where you are staying, if you are offering a ride, need a ride, or want to carpool on the Ride Board – just edit the wiki page and add the query or information.
Some of our Friday lab tours are now in place, so you can start signing up to join one of them.
Get updates and get in touch with other participants via our Facebook Event group (I see that some who originally responded “Maybe attending” are now registered).
Please use ‘scienceblogging.com’ as your tag when writing blog posts about it or uploading pictures. You can also download and print out the flyers (PDF1 and PDF2) and post them on bulletin boards at your office, lab or school.

There are 60 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 139 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we’ll cap at about 200). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time.
Kristin Fellows is the broadcast consultant for Wired Science and Nanotechnology on PBS
Chris Nicolini is the Senior Online Producer at NBC17 – WNCN.
In order to meet them, you know what you have to do: register! Registration is free. Check the map for nearby hotels. And sign up for the Friday dinner.
If you are coming, find hotel information, exchange information about where you are staying, if you are offering a ride, need a ride, or want to carpool on the Ride Board – just edit the wiki page and add the query or information.
Some of our Friday lab tours are now in place, so you can start signing up to join one of them.
Get updates and get in touch with other participants via our Facebook Event group (I see that some who originally responded “Maybe attending” are now registered).
Please use ‘scienceblogging.com’ as your tag when writing blog posts about it or uploading pictures. You can also download and print out the flyers (PDF1 and PDF2) and post them on bulletin boards at your office, lab or school.

There are 61 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 138 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we’ll cap at about 230). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time.
David Barger is the Business Manager at LEARN NC
Carol Cutler-White is the Grants Director at Wake Technical Community College
Pamela Blizzard is the Executive Director of The Contemporary Science Center.
In order to meet them, you know what you have to do: register! Registration is free. Check the map for nearby hotels. And sign up for the Friday dinner.
If you are coming, find hotel information, exchange information about where you are staying, if you are offering a ride, need a ride, or want to carpool on the Ride Board – just edit the wiki page and add the query or information.
Some of our Friday lab tours are now in place, so you can start signing up to join one of them.
Get updates and get in touch with other participants via our Facebook Event group (I see that some who originally responded “Maybe attending” are now registered).
Please use ‘scienceblogging.com’ as your tag when writing blog posts about it or uploading pictures. You can also download and print out the flyers (PDF1 and PDF2) and post them on bulletin boards at your office, lab or school.

There are 62 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 138 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we’ll cap at about 230). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time.
Rick Hall is a Genetics student at NCSU.
Pamela Reynolds is a graduate student in Marine Sciences/Biology at UNC and she blogs on Tangled Transects.
In order to meet them, you know what you have to do: register! Registration is free. Check the map for nearby hotels. And sign up for the Friday dinner.
If you are coming, find hotel information, exchange information about where you are staying, if you are offering a ride, need a ride, or want to carpool on the Ride Board – just edit the wiki page and add the query or information.
Some of our Friday lab tours are now in place, so you can start signing up to join one of them.
Get updates and get in touch with other participants via our Facebook Event group (I see that some who originally responded “Maybe attending” are now registered).
Please use ‘scienceblogging.com’ as your tag when writing blog posts about it or uploading pictures. You can also download and print out the flyers (PDF1 and PDF2) and post them on bulletin boards at your office, lab or school.

There are 64 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 138 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we’ll cap at about 230). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time.
Jennifer Dodd is the Senior Manager for Scientific Outreach at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Ontario, Canada.
Erin Knight, Communications Manager at The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences in RTP.
Carolyn Kotlas and Elizabeth Evans are Academic Outreach Consultants at Information Technology Services at UNC-Chapel Hill.
In order to meet them, you know what you have to do: register! Registration is free. Check the map for nearby hotels. And sign up for the Friday dinner.
If you are coming, exchange information about where you are staying, if you are offering a ride, need a ride, or want to carpool on the Ride Board – just edit the wiki page and add the query or information.
Some of our Friday lab tours are now in place, so you can start signing up to join one of them.
Get updates and get in touch with other participants via our Facebook Event group (I see that some who originally responded “Maybe attending” are now registered).
Please use ‘scienceblogging.com’ as your tag when writing blog posts about it or uploading pictures. You can also download and print out the flyers (PDF1 and PDF2) and post them on bulletin boards at your office, lab or school.

There are 65 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 136 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we’ll cap at about 230). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time.
Misha Angrist is at Duke University and he runs Genomeboy.com
Tiffany Cartwright’s blog is Wildernesse. I hear she may, in some vague way, be familiar with Reed… 🙂
In order to meet them, you know what you have to do: register! Registration is free. Check the map for nearby hotels. And sign up for the Friday dinner.
If you are coming, exchange information about where you are staying, if you are offering a ride, need a ride, or want to carpool on the Ride Board – just edit the wiki page and add the query or information.
Some of our Friday lab tours are now in place, so you can start signing up to join one of them.
Get updates and get in touch with other participants via our Facebook Event group (I see that some who originally responded “Maybe attending” are now registered).
Please use ‘scienceblogging.com’ as your tag when writing blog posts about it or uploading pictures. You can also download and print out the flyers (PDF1 and PDF2) and post them on bulletin boards at your office, lab or school.

There are 66 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 132 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we’ll cap at about 230). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time.
Stephanie Holmgren is the Biomedical Science Librarian at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Douglas Joubert is a Biomedical Informationist at NIH Library, in Bethesda, MD, and a blogger.
In order to meet them, you know what you have to do: register! Registration is free. Check the map for nearby hotels. And sign up for the Friday dinner.
If you are coming, exchange information about where you are staying, if you are offering a ride, need a ride, or want to carpool on the Ride Board – just edit the wiki page and add the query or information.
Some of our Friday lab tours are now in place, so you can start signing up to join one of them.
Get updates and get in touch with other participants via our Facebook Event group (I see that some who originally responded “Maybe attending” are now registered).
Please use ‘scienceblogging.com’ as your tag when writing blog posts about it or uploading pictures. You can also download and print out the flyers (PDF1 and PDF2) and post them on bulletin boards at your office, lab or school.